A thanksgiving tale...

(to the tune of O, Christmas tree..)  

Oh turkey day! Oh, turkey day!!

 Oh how we love our turkey day!!

 And I'm not creative enough to come up with the rest of the song..haha!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family, in the middle of nowhere. Seriously. Does it look like there is ANYTHING around???

They had been running in the hills! Its every kids' dream.

It was so great to have all of my siblings and their spouses there. Cousins are built in best friends and these cousins are no exception. They love to play with each other. 

 

 My brother in law, Dustin,  recently came back from Afganistan. He has been there since early this year. It was so great to finally see him again. There has been a lot of violence over there and he told us some crazy stories, and we are so thankful for his safe return.

Dustin had this flag flown over the base in honor of my mom and dad's family. It was the coolest thing. A very special moment when we saw it.

Also, his souvenir that he brought home was a really old Afgan gun. I forgot to get a picture of it, but I did get a picture of my super-talented nephew's sketch of it. At it was very accurate!

Fun with Grandma!

Lots of "new"/crazy rules UNO.

Asher the escape artist. I think he is Houdini's incarnate. ;)

Dustin the pie making army man!!

The turkey...my brother...ok my brother isn't a turkey but that turkey was sure a TURKEY!! It will come up in a moment.

And more UNO...played the "correct" way. These kidos are all 4-5 and they played so well together!!

These kidos played together well too...yep thats my mom!

 

 

 

Darn that turkey!!!! Apparently if the family gets into a deep, religious, conversation, then the turkey can somehow get grease on the bottom of the oven. That grease is also flammable when hot (especially with paper towels). ....and thus there is a lot of smoke....a lot of smoke!

 Did you know that if the fire alarm goes off in a church, that the fire department will automatically show up? And church authorities will show up as well.. It is an experience that I DO NOT recommend.  

But never fear! The firemen were very nice and even gave all of the kids a helmet and sticker-badge. They wore them like kings! For the rest of the night they played firemen rescuing everyone.

All of them were good sports about it. I love these guys!

Later that night we were able to make sleds out of candy-bars...

and we decorated our gingerbread houses.

I loved being with my family!!  I can't wait to see them again! Next time we'll do without the firemen.

Choir concert

The boys had the privilege of performing in the historical tabernacle recently. The commonwealth was invited to come and perform and then the Jr. Commonwealth was asked to have their choir sing a couple of songs. It was so fantastic!

Yep...always ready for the camera!

Mark and Matthew! A big thumbs up!

My fine looking boys!

James the Scientist

This year, James decieded that he wanted to teach science classes. He has loved every minute of it! He gathers with a few kids from around the area and they do science experiments together.  Some of their favorite ones have been putting light bulbs in the microwave, lighting paper on fire and it not burning, levitating a match, breaking a ruler with a newspaper and more! He really has loved researching different science experiments and how they work. It is normal for him to arrive home after science club to grab his science books and start finding the ones he wants to do next time.

All the kids! They are a super fun bunch!

These are a few pictures from his Halloween special he did. All things gooey and spooky!

James dressed up as a mad scientist and acted the part the entire time!

They made the ghosts float...using static electricity.

Ack! Its gak!

...lots of gak!

Even though it was on fire, the paper didn't burn! So spooky!

Keep up the good work James!!

Halloween 2013

This year, Halloween was on Thursday. Thursday is a very busy day in our household since that is the day that we participate in the Washington county Commonwealth and Jr. Commonwealth. It is a day packed full of classes for the kids and lots of teaching fun for me.

This is Mark's best bud Matthew. They are inseparable at the Jr commonwealth. They held still for about 3 seconds while I snapped this picture and then they were off playing again.

Jr Commonwealth was full of games and halloween treats. Mark was a happy participant!

Ben was a power ranger and this is his favorite friend Matea. She is a cutie and a sweetie!

James was a mad scientist. He pulled it off very nicely.

Mark was trying to get his pal Paul to smile for the picture. This is as close as we came.

We love our Commonwealth schools! They are such a blessing to us. We are able to be around some amazing women and their kids.

And best of all, no not Cory's man-eating-pumpkin, James' took the boys trick or treating. They came back with pounds of candy and they had a great time.  Yeah James!

Luke is absent from these photos...he was partying hard with his commonwealth peeps until late that night. To compensate, here is a favorite from a few years ago.

Happy Fall!!

The Pink Ladies at Women's Conference

Recently my LDS Ward Relief Society traveled as a group to Women's Conference in Salt Lake City.  What a great experience! I loved being with my fellow sisters in the gospel and the enlightened messages from our Relief Society leaders. I am so grateful for those who hosted us and for those who organized this huge event. 

A big THANK YOU!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Breakfast was held in the Garden of Eden. Not literally, but it was probably the modern day equivalent.

I rarely take pictures of my food..but this one was definitely picture worthy.  That breakfast cobbler was so yummy!

This is Sheri. She doubles for super-woman on the weekend. She was the grand-organizer for the event. She had every detail thought of and every consideration worked out. She was so inspiring in her organizing. Everything went off without a hitch!

After breakfast we went SHOPPING! I had never experienced Gardner Village and was DELIGHTED with it. The witched were out in full force and it was enchanting.

Tanya and I explored the village and found quite the delights!

They have a Christmas Store! AND they had a Disney village IN the Christmas store.  How awesome is that!

The witches were fantastic!!

Sheri named Tania and me the "pink ladies." I don't see why. But I still took it as a compliment. Sheri wasn't in pink..but she is pink in her heart. ;)

Lovely Tania! One of my favorite people.

I love temple square!

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I love the temple!

We had lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe on temple square. It was so good!!

All of the ladies!

Conference was so inspiring. To hear the words of the prophet in person is very uplifting.

The choir was organized with sister missionaries. We knew that one of our sister missionaries from the area was in the choir but we couldn't find her. But we sure looked!

I will always treasure the weekend with my Relief Society sisters. It strengthened my testimony of the gospel and my friendships with my sisters.